MUSCMedical LinksCharleston LinksArchivesMedical EducatorSpeakers BureauSeminars and EventsResearch StudiesResearch GrantsGrantlandCommunity HappeningsCampus News

Return to Main Menu

Faculty selects new leadership team

If recently elected Faculty Senate chair Anne Osborne Kilpatrick, DPA, achieves her goal, attendance at monthly senate meetings will spill into the Administration/Library Building lobby and render the traditional room 107 meeting place obsolete.
 
The Faculty Senate Executive Committee are from left to right: Luis Leite, DDS; Kit Simpson, DPH; Francine Margolius, Ed.D, as vice chair; Philippe Arnaud, Ph.D; Subbi Mathur, Ph.D; Ann Osborne Kilpatrick, DPA; and Mary Mauldin, Ed.D.

“I want our faculty to see us as necessary to enhance their careers,” Kilpatrick said. “I want to see in them a high level of interest in what's going on here. And as for the senate, I want us to concentrate on what's important for our faculty and not on trivia. The senate is a way our faculty can have a voice that will be heard and participate in university planning.”
 
As energetic as she is optimistic, Kilpatrick calls herself a “recycled” senator who didn't plan on being elected the chair to replace three-term chair Adrian Reuben, M.D. “I really appreciate the opportunity to serve in this position,” she said as she recounted her years on the Faculty Senate, her hiatus from serving, and her return. 
 
“I want to continue the momentum Adrian has created,” she said. “I’ve cared passionately about our faculty and its governance. Most of our faculty don’t take the time to inform themselves about what direction our university is taking and how it affects them. They’re busy attending to their research, teaching and service, but just as important is having a voice in their own destinies. And that's what the Faculty Senate can do for them.”
 
Kilpatrick said a top issue for faculty is tenure. MUSC is unusual compared to most institutions in that few of the faculty are tenured. “Most of the tenured faculty here have been hired and given tenure. Very few of our people have been tenured from within.”
 
Another issue is accountability for both faculty and administration. Clear definition of responsibilities—faculty performance and administrative support—are essential for an efficient academic institution, she said.
 
“The reason I’m so confident about the future of this faculty and my term as chair is the great executive committee I have working with me,” Kilpatrick said. “With Francine Margolius as vice chair, Philippe Arnaud, Subbi Mathur, Kit Simpson, Louis Leite and Mary Mauldin, we’re going to communicate to the faculty information about the issues that affect them. And to the administration, we’ll communicate the issues that concern the faculty.”